


Let Loose

by Maplebagels



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Happy, Hermann Gottlieb - Freeform, Ice Cream, Light Angst, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, all around good times, ice cream seems to be a running theme with Jake Pentecost, mako mori - Freeform, most of those characters are just mentioned, stacker pentecost - Freeform, this ship doesn't have enough fics, wrote this in five hours
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 13:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14165766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maplebagels/pseuds/Maplebagels
Summary: Jake Pentecost has the biggest crush on his best friend and soon-to-be-co-pilot, Nate Lambert.Nate Lambert has the biggest crush on the son of the Stacker Pentecost, Jake Pentecost.Oblivious to each other's feelings, they dance around awkward conversations and try to figure each other out as best they can.





	1. Ice Cream

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in the Pacific Rim fanbase! I'll say right now that I accept constructive criticism because I'm 100% sure a lot of this isn't factually accurate.   
> Anyway, this really didn't take much time and it's basically how I see Jake and Nate's relationship playing out as teenagers before he was kicked off the team! Enjoy! This ship doesn't have enough fics!

Son of the Stacker Pentecost. That’s all people knew him as. The son of a legend. It took years of plastic smiles and dreams of relationships before Jake was rudely woken by the realization: These people don’t see me for me. They see me for who my dad is. 

Jake was a disappointment to everyone he met. They expected his dad’s heroism, his dad’s superiority, his dad’s military demeanour. Some people fell out of his life as soon as they figured Jake was as far from his dad as he could possibly be. Others held on solely because of his name.

When he’d joined the recruitment program, he was only fifteen. He spent a year under the assumption that all these people at his arms genuinely enjoyed him as a person. Once they started dispersing like clouds, he began to question how many of his friends were his real friends. 

The sad part, however, was that it wasn’t long before he decided he was lucky he had anyone in the first place. So, the experimental flings and things-that-weren’t-things came and went faster than shooting stars. Jake had a new boyfriend or girlfriend with the snap of his fingers. There was no doubt he loved it all--he yearned for affection and he couldn’t help another relationship with no real connection, no heart. It wasn’t long before Jake thought that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t need any true connection with these people. He didn’t like being inferior in relationships, anyway. 

But there was one person who Jake knew, somehow, wasn’t in it just to be friends with the son of the Stacker Pentecost. Someone who stuck with him since day one, simply because they ended up being partners in every training drill. Someone who, Jake felt, he had a real connection with. But it wasn’t a love thing. Jake saved love for the cadets who knew how to party, knew how to let loose and forget about the world beyond whatever room they found themselves locked away inside. Even then, however, Jake wasn’t sure that was love. So then, what was love? Jake didn’t quite care. 

This person went by the name Nate Lambert. Abandoned by his parents at an early age, he grew up in the military. It was the recruitment program that had brought them together. He was so formal, so serious, which was strange when applied to their friendship. Jake joked around, talking about it as if Nate was putting up with Jake just enough for them to consider each other friends. Nate said Jake was relaxing to be around and to talk to. There were times here and there where Jake wanted nothing more than for Nate to join in on the fun for once. Because, when he thought about it, had Nate ever been to any of their late-night parties? Had Nate ever shared knowing glances with everyone else as they were forced to suffer through another one of Hermann’s lectures? Had Nate ever snuck out with them to grab some vodka or to replace their superiors’ shampoo with egg whites? No, to all of these. 

But there was the side of Jake that loved this about Nate. He could be vulnerable, he could open up. And Nate would open up and be vulnerable, too. Sometimes, Jake just wanted to cry and Nate would be there for him, tucked away into the secluded bunk room they shared at the end of the hall. Nate never judged Jake, never made him feel like less of a person for showing weakness. For that, Jake was grateful. 

It wasn’t until four months after they’d met that Jake decided Nate was too tense. After refusing all the party invitations, or the invitations to sneak into Hermann’s office, or the invitations to sabotage their superiors’ personal belongings, Jake took Nate by the wrist and said nothing other than, “Come with me.”

“Jakey, you know I like to hit the gym after a long day of training,” Nate protested. 

Jake stopped walking and folded his arms across his chest, facing Nate with raised eyebrows. “First of all, we agreed you don’t call me that. Second, you’ve been training all day! That’s exactly why you shouldn’t hit the gym.” He said the last three words with an exaggerated imitation of Nate. “You’re coming with me for once.”

“Are you going to make me dip my hands in kaiju blood?” 

Jake let out a “pfffft” and said, “I wouldn’t make you do that!”

Nate cocked an eyebrow. 

Jake’s smile fell. “Alright, fair enough. But that’s not what we’re doing.” He latched onto Nate’s arm, holding tight. “You just gotta trust me.”

And so, with that, they headed toward Jake’s destination. When they arrived, Nate seemed a little underwhelmed. “The dining room?”

Jake left Nate’s side and headed for the fridge, opening the freezer door. “Yep!” he said as he struggled to get the giant tub of ice cream out of the freezer. He dropped it onto the island and reached for bowls and spoons. Nate silently took a seat at the island while Jake placed an assortment of toppings on the table, including chocolate chips, shaved coconut, sprinkles, and chocolate syrup. 

“Are you sure this is allowed?” Nate asked. 

Jake snorted at the question. “Uh, no. But who cares? You can blame it on me.”

Nate chuckled, but it seemed a little forced. Jake took note of this as he scooped ice cream out of the tub and dumped as many sprinkles as possible onto his dessert. He nudged the tub of ice cream toward his friend, who politely declined. 

“You okay?” Jake asked. 

“Yeah, it’s just...”

“You’re not used to breaking the rules.”

“I guess.”

“Well,” Jake said, “the thing about breaking rules is that you gotta break ‘em good. If you get caught, you gotta get caught doing something fun. If we get caught, it should be worth it. So, have some ice cream. It’s good for morale.”

Nate laughed at that. “Morale?”

Jake shrugged. “Too much time with Hermann as a math teacher.”

A look of “fuck it” passed over Nate’s face and he began scooping ice cream for himself. “Hermann’s crazy,” he, reaching for the chocolate chips. Jake watched in shock as Nate proceeded to pour half the container onto his ice cream. The chocolate to ice cream ratio had to be five to one. 

Jake stared with an incredulous look. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it were anyone else. But Nate? 

He pointed absently to the other toppings. “You gonna have any syrup?”

Nate smiled and said, “Nah, I think I’m good.”

The two of them burst out laughing. They spent the next ten minutes finishing their ice cream and joking about their fellow cadets. Jake always loved sneaking down to the dining room with the other cadets, but now that he was doing it with Nate, it felt as if they were on a whole different planet. Jake couldn’t help but notice the way the overhanging lights brought out the blue in Nate’s eyes. They looked like small moons, full and radiant. But he banished these thoughts. There’s no way Nate looked at Jake like that. 

The moment was ruined when they heard footsteps coming down the hall. Jake quickly shoved the ice cream back into the freezer before taking hold of Nate’s arm and running through the nearest doorway, back toward the bunk rooms. Giggling like maniacs the entire way, they were almost caught, but they managed to make it to their room. 

The two of them flopped onto their beds in a fit of laughter. Nate vowed to never break the rules again. Jake vowed to make sure that they would definitely break the rules again.


	2. Push Ups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake decides to go to the gym with Nate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter is as enjoyable to read as it was to write!

Over the next month, the two snuck out every friday on another ice cream expedition. Not once did they get caught, which was rather surprising when you considered just how much ice cream and toppings went missing. But there came one friday when Nate really was not on board with ice cream. 

“It’s been a really lazy week,” he said. “I need to get down to the gym to make up for it.”

Jake argued with him for a minute or two before giving up. But he wasn’t done with Nate. “You know what? I’ll just go down with you. How ‘bout that?” 

He expected Nate to put up more of a fight, but he simply shrugged and said, “Why not?”

Jake frowned. “Is that it?”

Nate nodded. “Yep. I’ve been doing your thing for the past month. It’s time you do my thing.”

Jake didn’t protest as they headed down to the gym, although he still felt bitterness toward Nate. Down in the gym, he mostly leaned against the equipment, wondering what he should do. Nate seemed to have an entire routine down, which he did with confidence and ease. 

An idea popped into Jake’s head. “Tell you what,” he began, stopping Nate in the middle of a set. The other boy sat up and locked eyes with Jake, his forehead slicked with sweat. “Whoever gets more pushups decides what we do next friday.”

Nate considered this. “Do you mean, like, in a certain amount of time?”

Jake immediately went to whichever option would be more humiliating for Nate. “Whoever gets more pushups. Period.” 

“I accept,” Nate said. His confidence worried Jake. 

The two of them started off in a clear space in the gym, going at the same pace so neither of them could cheat. It was easy at first. They heckled and hissed threats at each other, but once they got past seventy pushups, the two of them began to strain. 

“As long as we’re in this program,” Jake said, “we will always get ice cream.”

“You’ll never win,” Nate shot back. 

They kept going past eighty, past ninety, one-hundred, one-hundred ten… 

“This isn’t fair, you weren’t working out beforehand!” Nate exclaimed.

Jake laughed evilly. “Give up now, Nate! You know you can’t win!”

The others in the gym--a couple of them actual jaeger pilots--began to toss them funny looks. The two of them pushed on, no longer wasting their breath on insults. Jake began to grow weak, his body on fire. He didn’t care. 

120… 130… 140… 150… 

Jake’s vision began to grow blurry. 

They were both going about fifteen times slower than they’d started. 

“Give up, Lambert…” Jake growled. 

“I could do this forever…” 

160…

170…

180…

 

185…

 

190.... 

 

195…

 

 

200… 

The two of them both fell upon reaching 200. Jake rolled onto his back, panting and sweating. Only then did he notice they’d had an audience. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next thing they knew, they were waking up in the shatterdome hospital. They’d passed out from exhaustion and overheating. Jake and Nate laughed about it, but they were sore for three days straight. 

“So, who won?” Jake asked before they went to bed that night. 

“Maybe… the one who did more work?” Nate said this with a mischievous smile on his face.

Jake knew exactly what he meant by this, but he elected to ignore it. Placing a hand on his chest, he said, “Oh, thank you, Nate. I say we should--”

“All you did was push-ups!” Nate protested. “I did a full on routine while you stood around.”

Jake laughed, giving up. “Alright, you win. We can go to the gym.”

Nate shrugged. “I was thinking something other than the gym or ice cream. Is there going to be a party?”

Jake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Who are you and what have you done with Nate Lambert?”

Nate laughed. “I might as well go to one party. It’s not long before we begin simulations in the jaegers. You might as well get to know me a little bit first.” 

Jake was suddenly filled with excitement despite the stars still swirling around his vision. “Tell you what, Taeko’s throwing a party in the common room this friday. You down?”

Nate nodded. “It’s decided, then.” He then spoke in an awful accent, imitating Hermann. “An adventure is ahead of us.”


End file.
